BusinessWeek has a round up of the best products of 2005, lots of good stuff – “Wow, what a year! In 2005 the business world moved to the music of innovation. There were more revolutionary changes in more markets sparked by more breakthrough ideas than at any time since, well, the golden ’90s. Admit it: Despite being overworked and dog-tired, you had fun.” Link. MAKE made the list too!
Richard writes “You asked to hear about things that can easily be repaired. HP now ‘Agilent Technologies’ has a DMM (Digital MultiMeter) that is built like a rock yet it can easily be repaired. As well is very accurate. That’s the 34401A. The service manual is easily found on Ebay and these meters ‘used’ hold there value very well, unlike some items that drop in value as time goes on. With these meters you almost ask your self why buy new when used is just as good. Check them out on eBay and the internet and they sell for roughly the same amount, $700 vs new at $1,100.” Link. Have other things that can be easily repaired that you use? Let us know!
Rachel Metz at Wired has a great article about using store-bought toys as raw material for your own one-of-a-kind designs – “Remote-control cars are so over. If you really want to be on the edge of holiday hipness this season, try a home-hacked version that drives itself. Artist Federico Muelas is a remote-control-car-hacking expert. He cracks open the remote, then connects it to an external chip, which in turn is connected to a computer. Through the computer, he reprograms the remote so, for example, cars can automatically zoom through an obstacle course.” Link.
This is a great idea, one place on the web that may eventually contain every camera with all the important things you need to know about just about every camera – “Camerapedia.org is a free-content encyclopedia of camera information. The intention of the camerapedia Wiki is to be a repository for information and links to information about all still camera brands and models. You know your camera equipment better than anyone. Please share that knowledge with everyone and contribute.” Link.
Ever wonder why some of the ice cubes in your ice tray have little spikes? Here’s why and here’s how to make your own spikey ice cubes “With ideal conditions (distilled water, a fan promoting evaporation and rapid cooling, -7 degree C temperature, an empty freezer) about half the cubes in an ice-cube tray will form spikes” [via] Link.
New Instructable on how to convert a computer power supply into a power supply for a lab bench, mat_the_w writes “I started into my main electronics classes, and needed a good power supply for working on lab projects at home in my room. My roommate Adam told me about somebody online who had converted a spare ATX computer power supply into a lab bench power supply, so I decided to do the same thing.” Link.
Interesting and sorta gross “epiSkin jewelry extends biological identity by combining technology and design into a new decorative body surface. This project is an exploration into the decorative technological control over biology to create an artifact which is a hybrid of both. Cultured in a lab, this biological jewelry is made of epithelia cells which grow to create an artificial skin. The cells are grown into custom designed forms, controlled by the artist. The cells are incubated for a period of time, following which they are stained with a custom dye. The skin is then visibly sealed into a wearable object.” [via] Link.
